Clever Thoughts

Sometimes I have clever thoughts or think up a neat metaphor, and I think, “This is my next project!” Maybe it will be, but maybe excitement clouds my judgment just a little.

Not every clever thought can fill a book. Not every metaphor stretches as far as you initially think. And, isn’t that ok? Do we need to trouble ourselves about that?

If you’re a writer beating down on yourself for too little progress on a table of content, let’s take a little break from that. Maybe now just isn’t a time to complete that particular project. If you’ve already struggled for a while, maybe your topic would make a better essay. Try an article. Remember the gem within the topic that made you want to share it with others for the betterment of the world and reconsider how you can share it.

I know that I personally can be so quick to think, “This could be a book!” than I can downplay other shorter forms. I even like essays and short stories. Books just seem so respectable—despite so many disrespectable books! The idea of publishing them can draw us into infatuation and inflation. It’s better if we can try to avoid that in an already sometimes pompous field.

All that is to say that I’m reorganizing my dreaming-to-do pile and feeling less guilty that it’s getting so long. Let’s take this moment as a chance to shake off self-imposed restrictions and goals to remember God’s many gifts and the additional opportunities before us. 🙂

Clever thoughts are great, but they aren’t everything. They aren’t even almost everything! Ultimately, they aren’t even the same as being right. And, sometimes things just aren’t meant to be captured entirely by a metaphor.

Let’s have project/ idea lists. Let’s have projects that aren’t always book-length!

Guess these kinds of realizations are just another reason to thank God that we are in this together. It’s not all on our shoulders, and God provides time even if it isn’t the time we want for the progress we want. 🙂 Thanks be to God!

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Filed under As Christian Writers

2 Responses to Clever Thoughts

  1. “Books just seem so respectable—despite so many disrespectable books!” This is so true and annoying! lol But maybe it can help us have a better healthier outlook. I agree, every good idea might not be our defining project, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t good and useful ideas! Let’s find ways to utilize the inspiration we are given, even if it doesn’t mean it will result in a life changing book.

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